Black Caviar

Being a public holiday, we weren’t sure whether any cafes would be open, so were pleased to find Araminta’s tea room was serving coffees.  We enjoyed our coffee in the sunny yard before returning to the Goulburn River track and retracing our route past the old Goulburn bridge.  We were only on the highway for a short time before turning onto a quieter road that took us to the other side of the old bridge.  

It was easy cycling though there was a slight headwind.  We passed many Yarran signs which turned out to belong to Yarran Thoroughbreds, a 1600-acre property along the Goulburn River, offering a range of services to support thoroughbred breeding and sales.  

A little further on, frequent fence signs prohibited entrance to the large military firing range, part of the Puckapunyal Military area.

We had set our sights on lunch in the grounds of Michelton Winery which turned out to be a massive complex with a hotel, wine tasting, gallery, restaurant and café.  We wound our way past the vineyards and down to the lake front where we found a perfectly positioned bench making the ideal lunch spot.  

Crossing the Goulburn River, we saw another dilapidated bridge, before making our way into Negambie, and checking into the Centre Town Motel.  The town is famous as the birthplace of Black Caviar, the legendary racehorse who remained undefeated with 25 wins from 25 starts, and her career is celebrated with a life size bronze statue. 

We followed the boardwalk around the foreshore of Negambie Lake which was created by the damming of the Goulburn River.  We were amused to see a truck cabin on a pontoon roaring around the lake though weren’t tempted to take a cruise. We walked to the water park then turned back to return to the motel via the IGA.

We returned to the lake as the sun was setting and settled into the Nagambie Brewery and Distillery for a beer on the deck as the sky darkened.  Dinner was at Eighteen Sixty – a fabulous Italian restaurant that chased us up when we were 15 minutes late for our booking.  According to our waitress, Negambie was one of the fastest growing Victorian towns post-Covid and we could certainly see its appeal.